North Aurora Days to kick off Aug. 1

Book sale, pet parade part of festival

North Aurora residents observe the 2013 North Aurora Days Emergency Vehicle Lights and Sirens Parade in North Aurora. This year's parade will take place Aug. 1.

NORTH AURORA – Those who go to Messenger Public Library's annual use book sale on Aug. 1 and 2 will be able to peruse plenty of books, video tapes and music compact discs.

The popular sale, put on by the Friends of Messenger Library, will feature thousands of items. The sale will take place from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Aug. 1 and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Aug. 2.

"We get a lot of people waiting for the doors to open," Messenger Library Administrator Kevin Davis said. "We get a lot of people who want to stock up for their home."

The sale is one of many activities that will take place during North Aurora Days, held from Aug. 1 to Aug. 3. There are a few changes to this year's festival, most notably that the community garage sales will not be part of the festival.

"The number of people participating had been declining every year," said Mark Gaffino, chairman of the North Aurora Days Committee that is in charge of organizing the summer festival. "We had 40 residents who signed up last year."

In addition, he said the person who usually organizes the community garage sales for North Aurora Days couldn't do it this year. "We are still discussing whether to do them next year," Gaffino said.

In the meantime, the village will oversee this year's community garage sales, which will take place in September, he said.

North Aurora Days will feature old favorites, including the popular emergency vehicle lights and sirens parade, which will begin at 7 p.m. Aug. 1 at the Cinemark Tinseltown USA movie theater, at 320 S. Lincolnway, North Aurora, and then head north on Route 31 to John Street. The parade will go past the festival site at Clock Tower Plaza, at Randall Road and Oak Street.

Some of the emergency vehicles in the parade will be featured in the Chicagoland Emergency Vehicle Show from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Aug. 2 at 800 Airport Road. This is the 17th year of the event, billed as the Midwest's largest public emergency vehicle show.

For another year, the North Aurora Pet Parade is part of the festival. The parade, in its 32nd year, was started by veterinarian Thomas Brooks of the Fox Valley Veterinary Clinic in North Aurora.

Judging will be limited to the first 100 entries, which must faxed or delivered by 6 p.m. Aug. 1 to the Fox Valley Veterinary Clinic, 405 Oak St. Forms are available at North Aurora Village Hall, Messenger Library, the clinic's website, www.foxvalleyvet.net or the North Aurora Days website, www.northauroradays.com.

Registration and lineup for the parade starts at 1 p.m. Aug. 3 at the North Aurora Activity Center at the corner of Lincolnway and State Street. At 2 p.m., participants will parade across the State Street bridge to North Island Park.